The Raiders of the Sarhad

Hokitika Guardian, 13 February 1922, Page 1

The Raiders of the Sarhad

In “The Haiders of the Sarhad” General It. E. H. Dyer describes his experiences during the war when on a mission of some importance. The Sarhad is a tract of mountain and desert on the borders of Persia, and Baluchistan, hard by the Afghan frontier, through it runs one of the three land routes from Europe to India, and it was extensively used by German agents on their way to the latter country to stir up sedition. These agents also incited the native tribesmen to rise against the British. They enlisted their sympathies by announcing that all Germany, from the Emperor dpwnwurds, had embraced the Mohammedan faith. The statement though grotesque was implicitly believed by the artless sons of the Sarhad, who to gratify their self-styled co-religionists began to raid British territory as long as the traffic iti German agents went on garhad would be a centra of disaffection and danger, and early in 1916, General Dyer was sent at short notice to put matters right. His “force” consisted of ai small staff, a white! chauffeur, whose enormous appetite materially added to tne leader’s pre-foccupa-tions, and a few native soldiers, raw recruits most of them, who had never handled a rifle. Clearly with such an exiguous command he could hope to accomplish little by fighting, and in any case it was against the policy of the Government to antagonise the tribes

by inflicting heavy losses on them. General Dyer had to rely principally on diplomatic methods, 'a euphemistic phrase for downright bluff. He was in many tight corners, and more than once it seemed as if the expedition were doomed not merely to failure, hut to annihilation. However, xaet and a judicious display of bravado gain ed the day, and the people of Saril ad were persuaded to renounce their evil courses. A motor car, a diabolical engine which they had never before beheld, played some part in their confersion. Incidentally General Ds'er met a certain Gul-Bibi (“The Rose Lady”), the wife of a brigand chief who, according to local report, was the most beautiful woman in the world. He was prepared for disappointment, but to his surprise found that the description was hardly exaggerated. The Rose Lady was a remarkably beautiful girl, very fair, with Grecian features and exquisitely modelled figure. Perhaps she was a reversion to type, tracing her descent to some Greek warrior in the host of Alexander the Great who marched through the Sarhad 2200 years ago.